October 2011

10/17/2011

Our company was originally Windward Studios (that is still our legal name) which is a great name for a game software company. But when we first started with reporting software the marketing team decided to focus on a single name and so we became Windward Reports.

That worked great for awhile, but as time has progressed we are now much more than reports with a great docgen program as well as our new B.I. products. So after long discussion and test marketing, we’re now Windward. (Yes, it took a lot of effort to figure that out.)

And Windward Studios has been resurrected as the site for the special projects we do. Mostly little apps that we place out there for free like Wishbone.

10/14/2011

Last quarter was our best quarter ever. So we told everyone that we were going to have a special event today from 10:30 – 3:00 and then end the workday at 3:00. All anyone knew was dress for walking around outside.

We first took everyone to The Rib House (awesome BBQ) and got lunch for everyone. Best part, because there was no more actual work for the day, we could buy people beer!

Then came the contest. We split everyone into teams of 3 and gave them the below list. They then had about 2½ hours to get photos of as many of the below items as possible. And with that they were running out the door. Everything was within a block of the Pearl St. Mall, as was the restaurant. So it was all walking around the mall area.

One time we saw two team members running full speed down the mall yelling at someone to stop. And ahead of them was someone on a Segway (one of the pictures on the list) going down the mall. They got the picture.

One group got a balloon animal and was holding it for a picture when another team ran up and snapped the same picture.

One team member served lunch in a restaurant and posed for the picture. The person at the table was so intent on their cell phone call that they didn't even notice.

At 2:30 the teams returned and scored each other's pictures (with the CEO and I making decisions when there was a disagreement as to did a picture count). This is a great way to handle the scoring because the teams see each other's pictures – lots of laughs over some of them.

I think everyone had a great time as most stuck around till 4:00 having another soda pop or beer and talking about the contest.